I am interested in history and I have been interested in learning about Codebreakers. I would have liked to learn even more from this subject, but it was interesting and well done. Many that were codebreakers are included in this book and it was wonderfully organized. Hearing their stories is wonderful. Having details about so many that helped in this heroic effort is fantastic. It gives a personal look at them and what they did as codebreakers.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this fascinating work!

The codebreakers have always been maybe the most intriguing part of the war effort. I really enjoyed learning more about the technology and the people involved with this part of the war. This book was not totally what I expected but was still well worth the time invested. Highly recommend for anyone interested in code breaking and the war.

Although this book was interesting it wasn’t quite as interesting as I thought it would be. An absolutely great read for those who enjoy the technical stuff of how things work. I loved hearing about the ladies who were there, what their roles were in this important place. It was good to see so many photos enabling the reader to put names to faces. I would have liked a bit more detail about the people and less of the machines! This book would be a great gift for anyone who is fascinated by war, especially what went on behind the scenes.

I’m not going to lie, a book by Alan Turing’s nephew about Bletchley Park? I was hoping for a little more behind the scenes or insights into the secret WWII code breaking site and Mr. Turing. Unfortunately, this was a bit dry, and honestly didn’t give the in-depth details I was looking for.

The focus was on the people of Bletchley Park, which of course is the title of the book, but these are very short introductions: so and so came from here. Studied such and such at this university and was recruited by blah blah because of blah blah. They worked on this at BP. After the war they did this job and died on this date. As an American, other than Turing, I had only heard of a couple of these people. Interspersed are some facts and anecdotes about the work done at Bletchley, a bit about how the codes were broken and the machines rebuilt, but nothing really earth shattering.

Even for me, who is a WWII history buff and has read other books about Bletchley and code breaking on both sides of the Atlantic, I’m not sure that I would recommend this to someone as general reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Before James Bond, there was Alister Denniston, Dilly Knox, Alan Turing, Mavis Batley (née Lever), Peter Twinn and Frank Birch.

Sir Dermot Turing is a Knight of the British Empire (KBE) and the nephew of Alan Turing. He authored The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park; which is a unique take on an old subject and has managed to breathe new life into those who worked on the Enigma machine. It is the true-life account of the people, places and techniques employed for decrypting the machine that the Axis powers used during WWII to secretly encrypt their commercial, diplomatic and military communications. Unlike many books of its kind, The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park paints an intimate observation of the participants that is lacking in other publications. The reader gets a look back in time and at the characters behind the crack. The vital importance of the work at Bletchley Park contributed to the war as a whole and in particular, the Battle of Cape Matapan from 27-29 March, 1941.

The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park is a character driven dive into the ultra-secret world of the codebreakers. Turing’s chronology primarily focuses on the years immediately preceding WWII through the evolution of the Government Code & Cypher School (GC & CS) and its evolution into the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The early codebreakers were, as Alister Denniston dubbed them, ‘the professor type.’ Most of these were ‘Kingsmen,’ alumni of King’s College, Cambridge; although not exclusively. They came from varying disciplines that included mathematics, academia, arts, humanities, classics languages, and history. Once ‘The Hunting Party’ had arrived at Bletchley Park work that began with a hand full of academics quickly grew in size and scope. Those with other skills and talents including: Intelligence Staff, Translators, Linguists, Managers, Machine Operators, Typists, Secretaries, and Stenographers were swiftly recruited.

The author avoids focusing upon Alan Truing, but instead introduces the reader to the arguably equally important contributors to the cracking of the Enigma. My favorite character was Dilly Knox a brilliant scholar of the Classics, specifically Greek. He was humorous and poetic. He constantly threatened to resign his position, was a man full of contradictions, a less than skillful driver and tragically gone too soon.

Those interested in women’s studies will find this publication to be a breath of fresh air. It includes details of the women who worked at Bletchley Park and heralds the significant contributions made by those women. Most of whom were never awarded any recognition or accolade.

The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park is anything but a dry retelling of history. I found it intriguing, enlightening and humors in equal amounts. Since I read it a week or two ago, I’ve thought of it fondly and often mentioned it repeatedly to friends and family. This, for me, is the seal of a truly great work and because of this I will be rating this book highly.

If you want to find out: who ‘Dilly’s Fillies’ were, why there was a bath in the office of Room 40 at the Admiralty, how QWERTZU has anything to do with the Enigma, how the Bomba became the Bombe or what really went on in Hut 6; you will have to read The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park for yourself. Be prepared for a compelling and extraordinary true-life tale.

Highly recommended for everyone.

Thank you Netgalley and Arcturus for access to this arc.

Yes, there is a lot to learn here and though it eventually gets much more interesting and on to what I was expecting, there’s a learning curve to start us out. The eventual activities and many of the people involved had their beginnings far before the war – usually in World War I code breaking when things were still mainly done by hand and also (mainly) from Kings College, Cambridge. Getting noticed and recruited still had much to do with the ‘old boys’ (rarely women’s) network of who knew whom. When the mathematicians finally arrived, it took some convincing to get the standard linguists, history, and classics people to accept that they might be useful.

The short 2-3 page biographies of some of the major players in the efforts at Bletchley were helpful as many of them I’d rarely or barely or never heard of before (see first paragraph) but scattered as they were through the text, they did also break up the flow of the chapter. Much more interesting was the information in the chapters themselves that integrated the people discussed in the bios with the specific things and breakthroughs they were responsible for. I was also astounded at the huge number of WRENS who worked there and at outstations in (often mind numbingly boring) clerical jobs.

The details about the machines used to help break the German, Italian, and later – once Italy had made peace – Japanese codes weren’t too complicated but had enough information to show how fiendishly brilliant were the people who devised them to deal with the complex code of the machines they were trying to crack. That some of them were reverse engineered without the British ever seeing them until after the war is astounding. What I really enjoyed, though, were the little nuggets of information about the people who harnessed their various creative skills and knowledge to tackling that enormous task. B-

I loved this book which is a fantastic and not too technical history ofBritain's code-breaking center during WWII. I liked that it put the emphasis on people rather than technical things (although that was not lacking. I also liked the capsule biolgraphies of many people who worked there, both famour and not.

An excellent overview for the general reader.

Received from Net Gallery! "The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park" is and always has interested me on All the secret works these men and women did during WorldWarll,to rid the world of evil and have from the Nazis to Hitler to the Devil! These people never got the thanks that they are due so along with the story,you get to meet some of the hero's that helped make our world a little bit safer. I got a little mixed up but one I figured out how the book was laid out! Fantastic!! Come into a world that only people have heard about or read about or written about! Very many different characters that you will learn to know and you can tell so much research went into this story! Don't be surprised if what you read and learn! If we find out you tell someone,better look over your shoulder,you funny know who may be coming for you! Such a historical fiction story you just can't pass up and not read! Maybe you will become a code breaker or even a spy!

If I’m really honest it didn’t do it for me. A bit dry with the focus on technical history of code breaking with the biographies of individuals interspersed which I struggled with as it broke up the flow when reading.

This book was great, I watched a film about the coding and that was why I picked this book, as I found it fascinating. This book was really interesting and very informative.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

There is an insatiable demand for factual accounts from ww2 and none so popular as reading about the famous code breakers of Bletchley Park.
This book takes us step by step through the history at the same time as putting faces to the unsung heroes of the time.
It is a clear account and is well researched and documented.
This book gives the reader a greater appreciation of the brilliant people who worked so hard to help win the war
Their resilience and determination puts thus generation to shame!

This is so informative, I loved how the code breakers worked and I’ve always enjoyed learning about Bletchley park during the war and this just added to how much they had to do and were relied on

"The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park" gives readers some of the history of the now famous Bletchley Park and the people behind the amazing work. It gives us a strong basis in Britain's codebreaking during the first World War and how Bletchley Park began with many of the same people from the first War's group before expanding to the thousands of mathematicians, historians, physicists, and language experts who stayed through the war. Every few pages, in a separate section from the main text, Turing provides a short biography of one of the people he's currently talking about- their education, what they did after the war, etc. When these biographies were fitted into ongoing text they became a bit distracting, but if they were at the end of a text section it worked better.

I went into this book figuring that Dermot Turing, as the nephew of famous Bletchley Park alum Alan Turing, would focus mostly on Alan and those who came into his orbit. It would have been understandable. But I was pleasantly surprised by the expanse of people talked about, with in fact no emphasis on Turing at all. That said, the people mostly blended together for me after awhile, and by the end of the book I don't think I could point out one unique fact about any of the people involved. The discussions about the machines designed, built, and used were fairly basic, and while I learned a bit about the different Enigma machines used and how different techniques were needed to break each one, that was about it. Sadly, the book wasn't as interesting as I had hoped and didn't really add to my limited knowledge or understanding of Bletchley Park or the people who broke some of the most important codes in the war.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The latest book of many now written on Bletchley Park but which nevertheless makes for an interesting insight into many of the well known names (and some of the maybe lesser known) involved in this key area of the fight during WWII and indeed the lead up to it. I found the insertion of a small biography of individuals interwoven in their relevant places appertaining to their area of work or personal position worked really well meaning that the reader can dip into their personal story there and then without having to wait, as so often, for a separate chapter. A sad fact that so few of these worthy men (and so often women) received an honour for their brilliant work.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and Publishers for this chance to leave an unbiased review.

An easy to read and informative history of the world famous Bletchley Park and the dedicated staff who helped to save so many lives throughout the 20th century.
Fascinating to read about the role of women at Bletchley and how they also participated at every level of analysis and code breaking - not simply in the roles of clerks and admin but truely in a hands on capacity.
The detailed bios of many figures from Bletchley Park, make for an interesting addition to the book and I would recommend to anyone wishing to learn about the history of cryptography in Europe and WII.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one, as it was focused on the people that worked to break code during WWII. For me, a read is more interesting when it focuses on the people along with the task that they completed. The bravery that these people had is really inspiring.

Thanks netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review.
Fascinating mesmerising and intriguing all come to mind with this fabulous read what amazing work was done at this iconic house the pressure must have been horrendous and so many people's lives at risk at the same time
An excellent read and can highly recommend.

historical-places-events, historical-research, WW1, WW2, cryptography

Of course there's a lot of denoting the whos, wheres, and whys of decoding enemy communications from early WW1 and beyond. But the most enthralling stuff is not only the what and where or the little tidbits of daily life, it's the rather complex bios of EACH person who made up the team despite the misogynism of the time. As data is given, it is also clear that the vast majority lived into their late 80s or longer. Considering the work, it's also no surprise that many of the more brilliant people were a bit eccentric. I found this book fascinating because I center on people first and deeds second, but everything in it is remarkable!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Arcturus Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!